Beam hopping control method, electronic device, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

The present application provides a beam hopping control method, an electronic device, a storage medium, and a program product. The method comprises: a satellite payload receives a transparent forwarding signal transmitted by a base station and corresponding beam control information, wherein the beam control information is transmitted earlier than the transparent forwarding signal, and the beam control information is used for performing beam hopping control by the satellite payload; and the satellite payload determines an effective moment of the beam control information on the basis of the transparent forwarding signal and a local frame header moment of the satellite payload, wherein the effective moment of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

Description

Beam hopping control method, electronic device, storage medium and program product

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202410848467.5, filed on June 27, 2024, and entitled "Beam hopping control method, electronic device, storage medium and program product", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a beam hopping control method, an electronic device, a storage medium and a program product. BACKGROUND

[0004] Beam hopping technology is a communication technology that can flexibly allocate beam resources to improve the utilization rate of satellite payload resources. Unlike the traditional fixed beam communication method, beam hopping technology can dynamically adjust the beam direction according to the service demand of the terminal within the coverage range of the satellite payload, so as to reasonably allocate beam resources and better adapt to the uneven distribution of ground users and the dynamic changes of communication services.

[0005] In the scenario of Non Terrestrial Network (NTN), the satellite payload can use beam hopping technology to transparently forward signals between the terminal and the base station. In the related technology, in order to realize accurate signal forwarding, the base station needs to accurately and efficiently control the beam hopping of the satellite payload. However, the current beam hopping control scheme for the satellite payload has high complexity, which not only increases the hardware overhead, but also limits the application scenarios to some extent. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a beam hopping control method, an electronic device, a storage medium and a program product, which are used to solve the problem of how to accurately and efficiently control the beam hopping of the satellite payload.

[0007] In a first aspect, a beam hopping control method is provided, applied to a satellite payload, comprising: receiving a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information sent by a base station, the beam control information being sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used for the satellite payload to perform beam hopping control; determining an effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0008] In a second aspect, a beam hopping control method is provided, which is applied to a base station and includes: sending a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to a satellite payload; wherein the beam control information is sent in advance of the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information is used for the satellite payload to perform beam hopping control, and the transparent forwarding signal is used for the satellite payload to determine an effective time of the beam control information according to a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0009] In a third aspect, an electronic device is provided, which includes: a processor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to implement the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0010] In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which, when instructions in the storage medium are executed by a processor of an electronic device, enables the electronic device to perform the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0011] In a fifth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program being operable to cause a computer to perform some or all of the steps in the method according to the first aspect, or to perform some or all of the steps in the method according to the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or prior art description. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained without creative labor.

[0013] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0014] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a satellite payload according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0015] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a beam hopping control method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0016] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a base station sending a transparent forwarding signal and beam control information to a satellite payload through a gateway station according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0017] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the local frame header time, uplink frame header time and downlink frame header time of a base station, satellite payload and user terminal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0018] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for controlling a hopping beam according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0019] FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0020] FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a hopping beam control device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0021] FIG. 9 is a structural diagram of a hopping beam control device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] In the related art, when controlling a hopping beam of a satellite payload, a dedicated synchronization signal is usually designed to synchronize the gateway station and the satellite payload system in time, and the performance of the hopping beam depends on the synchronization accuracy of the beam control information and the transparent service information. However, this hopping beam control scheme not only increases the complexity and hardware overhead of the satellite-borne equipment and the ground gateway station, but also limits the application scenarios to some extent.

[0023] The embodiments of the present application provide a hopping beam control method, an electronic device, a storage medium and a program product. The base station can send a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload. The beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal. After receiving the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information, the satellite payload can determine the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload, so that the effective time is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal. Thus, accurate and efficient control of the hopping beam of the satellite payload can be achieved when the effective time of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal. In addition, since the technical scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application can not require the base station to send the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information synchronously, and does not need to introduce a new communication system, protocol or satellite-ground synchronization signal, accurate and efficient control of the hopping beam can be achieved. Therefore, the complexity is low, the implementation cost is small, and the hopping beam can be widely used in multiple scenes.

[0024] In order for those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the present application, the technical solutions in the present application will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in one or more embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, not all. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor should belong to the protection scope of the present application.

[0025] The terms "first", "second", and the like in the specification and claims of this application are used for distinguishing between similar objects and are not necessarily used to describe a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the use of such terms as "first", "second", and the like, is merely to distinguish one object from another, and are not necessarily used to describe a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data used herein can be interchanged, where appropriate, to enable the application to be practiced in an order other than that which is depicted or described herein. Furthermore, the application and the claims herein include "and / or", unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The character " / " is generally used to represent an "or" relationship between the associated objects.

[0026] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the application are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0027] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system according to an embodiment of the application. The NTN communication system described in FIG. 1 includes a terminal (which can also be referred to as a terminal device or a user equipment, UE) 11, a satellite payload 12, a gateway station (which can also be referred to as a ground gateway station) 13, and a base station (which can also be referred to as a ground base station) 14. The link between the terminal 21 and the satellite payload 12 is referred to as a user link (which can also be referred to as a service link), the link between the satellite payload 12 and the gateway station 13 is referred to as a feeder link (which can also be referred to as a feeder link), the base station 14 can interact with the satellite payload 12 through the gateway station 13, and the satellite payload 12 can forward signals between the terminal 11 and the base station 14. Among them, the NTN communication system can include a transparent payload-based NTN communication system and a regenerative payload-based NTN communication system. The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the application can be applied to the transparent payload-based NTN communication system, in which the signals forwarded by the satellite payload 12 between the terminal 11 and the base station 14 can be referred to as transparent forwarding signals, and the transparent forwarding signals can include transparent broadcast signals for terminal access and transparent service signals for terminal service.

[0028] The structure of the satellite payload 12 shown in FIG. 1 can be as shown in FIG. 2. The satellite payload shown in FIG. 2 is composed of a feeder link antenna, a low noise amplifier (LNA) & power amplifier (PA), a splitter, a control information modem, a beam control module, a digital beamforming module, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) / analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a user link antenna. Among them, the beam control module is responsible for the control of the beam hopping, and can include the adjustment of the local frame header, the effective time of controlling the beam pointing (which can also be expressed as the effective time), the generation of feedback information, etc. Other functional components are relatively common, and will not be described in detail here.

[0029] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a beam hopping control method according to an embodiment of the present application. The beam hopping control method shown in FIG. 3 can be applied to the satellite payload 12 shown in FIG. 1, and can include the following steps.

[0030] S302: receiving a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information sent by the base station, the beam control information being sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, and the beam control information being used for the satellite payload to control the beam hopping.

[0031] In the NTN communication system, in the case where the satellite payload uses the beam hopping technology for communication, the base station can send a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, so that the satellite payload can control the beam hopping according to the beam control information, thereby realizing the forwarding of the transparent forwarding signal. At this time, the satellite payload can receive the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information sent by the base station.

[0032] The transparent forwarding signal can be a general term for various signals transparently forwarded by the satellite payload between the terminal and the base station. In the embodiments of the present application, the transparent forwarding signal can include a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access and a transparent service signal for terminal service, etc., which are not limited here.

[0033] The beam control information is used for the satellite payload to control the beam hopping. The beam hopping controlled by the satellite payload according to the beam control information can be used for communication between the terminal and the satellite payload. In the embodiments of the present application, the beam control information can include beam pointing information and beam effective time slot. The beam pointing information can indicate which beam position the beam points to, and the beam effective time slot can indicate which time slot the beam takes effect.

[0034] The beam control information corresponds to the transparent forwarding signal, and a hop beam controlled according to the beam control information can be used for the satellite payload to forward the transparent forwarding signal. In an embodiment of the present application, when the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, the base station can first send the beam control signal and then send the transparent forwarding signal, that is, the base station can send the beam control information in advance, or in other words, the base station can allocate beam resources in advance for the transparent forwarding signal in a future period of time, and send the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload in advance. The time at which the base station sends the beam control information in advance (that is, how long in advance the base station can allocate beam resources) can be determined according to actual conditions, as long as the beam control information reaches the satellite payload in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, which is not limited herein. For example, the time at which the base station sends the beam control information in advance can be greater than the maximum time by which the time at which the beam control information reaches the satellite payload can lag behind the time at which the transparent forwarding signal reaches the satellite payload.

[0035] The NTN communication system includes a gateway station, which can be used for forwarding information or signals between the base station and the satellite payload. In some embodiments, when the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload, the base station can send the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the gateway station first, and then the gateway station forwards the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload. The feeder link between the gateway station and the satellite payload includes at least two data channels, one of which can be referred to as a data transmission channel, which can be used for interaction between the satellite payload and the base station for telemetry and control information, and can use a digital video broadcasting (DVB) protocol or other commonly used transmission protocol for transmission, and the other can be referred to as a transparent forwarding channel, which can be used for transparent forwarding of signals, and can use a new radio (NR) or other general communication protocol. When the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal to the satellite payload, the base station can send the transparent forwarding signal through the transparent forwarding channel in the feeder link of the gateway station, and when the base station sends the beam control information to the satellite payload, the base station can send the beam control information through the data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station. Correspondingly, when the satellite payload receives the transparent forwarding signal sent by the base station, the satellite payload can receive the transparent forwarding signal through the transparent forwarding channel in the feeder link of the gateway station, and when the satellite payload receives the beam control information sent by the base station, the satellite payload can receive the beam control information through the data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station. Please refer to FIG. 4.

[0036] In FIG. 4, the gateway station 13 and the satellite payload 12 interact information through the feeder link. When the base station 14 sends the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload 12, the base station 14 can send the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the gateway station 13, the gateway station 13 sends the transparent forwarding signal to the satellite payload 12 through the transparent forwarding channel in the feeder link, and sends the beam control information to the satellite payload 12 through the data transmission channel in the feeder link.

[0037] Since the base station can use different data channels to send transparent forwarding signals and beam control information to the satellite link, and can send beam control information in advance before sending transparent forwarding signals, that is, the base station does not require to send transparent forwarding signals and beam control information synchronously, and does not need to introduce new communication systems, protocols or satellite-ground synchronous signals, therefore, the complexity is low, the implementation cost is small, and can be widely used in multiple scenarios of skip beam.

[0038] S404: According to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload, determine the effective time of the beam control information, and the effective time of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0039] After receiving the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information, the satellite payload can determine the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload, so that the effective time of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal, thereby realizing accurate and efficient control of the skip beam.

[0040] The local frame header time of the satellite payload can be represented as the local frame start time of the satellite payload, which is synchronized with the local frame header time of the base station. In some embodiments, the local frame header time of the satellite payload can be determined by the satellite payload through clock synchronization, which can include the following steps: receiving a first signal, the first signal including at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) signal, a Beidou signal and a satellite positioning signal; calibrating the local clock of the satellite payload according to the first signal to determine the local frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0041] After receiving the first signal, the satellite payload can calibrate the local clock of the satellite payload by using the first signal to obtain the local frame header time of the satellite payload. In some embodiments, the satellite payload can receive the first signal at a certain period and periodically calibrate the local clock according to the first signal, which can improve the accuracy of the local frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0042] The transparent forwarding signal can include a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access, and when determining the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time, the satellite payload can determine the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time.

[0043] In some embodiments, the satellite payload determines the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time, which can include the following steps: determining the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload; and determining the effective time of the beam control information according to the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time.

[0044] The uplink frame header time of the satellite payload can be represented as the uplink frame start time of the satellite payload, which has a certain time difference with the local frame header time of the satellite payload. The downlink frame header time of the satellite payload can be represented as the downlink frame start time of the satellite payload, which has a certain time difference with the local frame header time of the satellite payload. The transparent broadcast signal is a downlink signal, and after the base station sends the transparent broadcast signal to the satellite payload, the satellite payload can search for the transparent broadcast signal. After searching for the transparent broadcast signal, the satellite payload can determine the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0045] In some embodiments, the satellite payload determines the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload, which can include: determining the frame header time of the transparent broadcast signal as the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload; and determining the uplink frame header time according to the local frame header time and the downlink frame header time.

[0046] After searching for the transparent broadcast signal, the satellite payload can parse the transparent broadcast signal to obtain the frame header time of the transparent broadcast signal, which is the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload. Since the transparent broadcast signal can be periodically transmitted, the satellite payload can periodically calibrate the downlink frame header time according to the transparent broadcast signal to improve the accuracy of the downlink frame header time.

[0047] Since the satellite payload involves the forwarding of uplink and downlink signals when forwarding signals between the base station and the terminal, in order to facilitate the determination of the effective time of the beam control information, after obtaining the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload can be further determined. In actual communication scenarios, the downlink frame header time, the local frame header time and the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload have a certain time relationship, so when determining the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, the downlink frame header time and the local frame header time of the satellite payload can be determined.

[0048] In some embodiments, determining the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the local frame header time of the satellite payload and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload can comprise: determining a first time according to the local frame header time of the satellite payload, the first time being equal to 2 times the local frame header time; and determining the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the first time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload being equal to a difference between the first time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0049] In an example, the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload can be determined by the following formula: T2 = 2 x T0 - T1.

[0050] T2 is the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, T1 is the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, T0 is the local frame header time of the satellite payload, and 2 x T0 is the first time mentioned above.

[0051] In order to facilitate understanding of the relationship between the uplink and downlink frame header times of the satellite payload, the local frame header time of the satellite payload, the local frame header time of the base station, and the uplink and downlink frame header times of the terminal, reference can be made to FIG. 5.

[0052] In FIG. 5, the local frame header time of the base station, the satellite payload frame header time, and the local frame header time of the terminal are synchronized and are all T0. Since there is a transmission delay when the satellite payload performs uplink and downlink transmission with the base station, there is a certain time difference between the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload and the uplink frame header time of the base station (i.e., the local frame header time of the base station, which is also the local frame header time of the satellite payload), and there is a certain time difference between the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload and the downlink frame header time of the base station (i.e., the local frame header time of the base station, which is also the local frame header time of the satellite payload). Similarly, since there is also a transmission delay when the terminal performs uplink and downlink transmission with the satellite payload, there is a certain time difference between the uplink frame header time of the terminal and the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, and there is a certain time difference between the downlink frame header time of the terminal and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload. As shown in FIG. 5, assuming that the local frame header time T0 of the base station is represented by slot0, the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload is T2 shown in FIG. 5, the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload is T1 shown in FIG. 5, the uplink frame header time of the terminal is T21 shown in FIG. 5, and the downlink frame header time of the terminal is T11 shown in FIG. 5.

[0053] After obtaining the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, the generation time of the beam control information can be determined according to the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time.

[0054] In the embodiments of the present application, the transparent forwarding signal can include an uplink transparent forwarding signal and a downlink transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information can include uplink beam control information (corresponding to the uplink transparent forwarding signal, control information for controlling the uplink beam) and downlink beam control information (corresponding to the downlink transparent forwarding signal, control information for controlling the downlink beam), and correspondingly, the effective time of the beam control information can include the effective time of the uplink beam control information and the effective time of the downlink beam control information. In this way, when the effective time of the beam control information is determined according to the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, it can include: determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the uplink beam control information being synchronized with the uplink transparent forwarding signal; determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the downlink beam control information being synchronized with the downlink transparent forwarding signal.

[0055] That is, the effective time of the uplink beam control information can be determined according to the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, so that the effective time of the uplink beam control information is synchronized with the uplink transparent forwarding signal, and the effective time of the downlink beam control information is determined according to the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, so that the effective time of the downlink beam control information is synchronized with the downlink transparent forwarding signal. In this way, precise and efficient control of the uplink and downlink beam hopping can be achieved.

[0056] In some embodiments, the uplink beam control information includes uplink beam pointing information and an uplink beam effective time slot. When the effective time of the uplink beam control information is determined according to the uplink frame header time, it can include: determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink beam effective time slot based on the uplink frame header time.

[0057] Here, the uplink frame header time can be used as a time reference to determine which time slot of the satellite payload corresponds to the uplink beam effective time slot, and the time slot is the effective time slot of the uplink beam control, so that the effective time of the uplink beam can be obtained. For example, if the uplink beam effective time slot is time slot 1, when the effective time of the uplink beam control information is determined, the uplink frame header time can be used as a time reference to determine which time slot of the satellite payload is time slot 1, and the time slot is the effective time of the uplink beam. The effective time of the uplink beam control is synchronized with the uplink transparent forwarding signal, for example, if the satellite payload receives uplink data in time slot 1, the effective time of the uplink beam control information is also time slot 1.

[0058] In some embodiments, the downlink beam control information comprises downlink beam pointing information and a downlink beam effective time slot. When determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink frame header time, the following operation can be included: determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink beam effective time slot based on the downlink frame header time.

[0059] Here, based on the downlink frame header time, the time can be taken as a time reference, and the downlink beam effective time slot is determined as which time slot of the satellite payload, and the time slot is the effective time slot of the downlink beam control, so that the effective time of the downlink beam can be obtained. For example, if the downlink beam effective time slot is time slot 5, when determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information, the time can be taken as a time reference, and the time slot of the satellite payload corresponding to time slot 5 is determined as the effective time of the downlink beam. In this case, the effective time of the downlink beam control is synchronized with the downlink transparent forwarding signal, for example, if the satellite payload receives the downlink data at time slot 51, the effective time of the downlink beam control information is also time slot 5.

[0060] After determining the effective time of the beam control information, the satellite payload can control the hopping beam at the effective time, so that accurate and efficient control of the hopping beam can be achieved. In the case where the transparent forwarding signal comprises a transparent service signal, in the process of service scheduling of the terminal, the satellite payload can refer to the beam resource allocation result, and perform information interaction with the terminal of the wave position in the case where the beam resource is allocated to the wave position.

[0061] In the embodiments of the present application, since the beam control information is sent by the base station in advance of the transparent forwarding signal, that is, the beam resources are allocated by the base station in advance, the timeliness of beam scheduling will be affected. In some embodiments, after determining the effective time of the beam control information, the satellite payload can determine the time difference information according to the effective time, and then send the time difference information to the base station. The time difference information can be used by the base station to adjust the advance sending time of the beam control information compared with the transparent forwarding signal, so as to ensure the optimal timeliness of beam scheduling. In an example, after determining the generation time of the beam control information, the satellite payload can perform the following operations: determining the time difference information according to the effective time of the beam control information; sending the time difference information to the base station, and the time difference information is used by the base station to adjust the advance sending time of the beam control information compared with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0062] When determining the time difference information according to the effective time of the beam control information, the time difference information can be determined according to the effective time of the latest beam control information received by the satellite payload (in an actual communication scenario, according to the service demand of the terminal, the satellite payload can perform signal forwarding between the base station and the terminal multiple times, and correspondingly, the base station can send the beam control information to the satellite payload multiple times), so as to obtain the latest time difference information.

[0063] As described above, the beam control information can include uplink beam control information and downlink beam control information, so that when determining the time difference information according to the effective time of the beam control information, at least one of the following can be included: determining a first effective time of the latest received uplink beam control information; determining first time difference information according to the first effective time and the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload; determining a second effective time of the latest received downlink beam control information; and determining second time difference information according to the second effective time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0064] The "first" in the first effective time and the "second" in the second effective time described above are used to distinguish different effective times, and have no other special meanings. Similarly, the "first" in the first time difference information and the "second" in the second time difference information are used to distinguish different time difference information, and also have no other special meanings.

[0065] For the satellite payload, when the latest uplink beam control information is received, the first effective time of the uplink beam control information can be determined according to the method described above, and then the difference between the first effective time and the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload can be determined as the first time difference information. For example, the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload is T2, and the first effective time is T3, then the first time difference information can be T3-T2. The first time difference information can be used by the base station to adjust the advance sending time of the uplink beam control information compared to the uplink transparent forwarding signal.

[0066] When the satellite payload receives the latest downlink beam control information, the second effective time of the downlink beam control information can be determined according to the method described above, and then the difference between the second effective time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload can be determined as the second time difference information. For example, the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload is T1, and the second effective time is T4, then the first time difference information can be T4-T1. The second time difference information can be used by the base station to adjust the advance sending time of the downlink beam control information compared to the downlink transparent forwarding signal.

[0067] After the satellite payload determines at least one of the first time difference information and the second time difference information, when sending the time difference information to the base station, at least one of the first time difference information and the second time difference can be sent to the base station.

[0068] That is, the satellite payload can send the first time difference information to the base station, and the base station adjusts the advance sending time of the uplink beam control information according to the first time difference information, or sends the second time difference information to the base station, and the base station adjusts the advance sending time of the downlink beam control information according to the second time difference information, or sends both the first time difference information and the second time difference information to the base station, and the base station adjusts the advance sending time of the uplink beam control information and the downlink beam control information according to the first time difference information and the second time difference information respectively. Which time difference information the satellite payload sends can be determined according to the actual business needs, which is not limited here. Wherein, when the satellite payload sends the time difference information to the base station, it can be sent through the data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station. The implementation of the base station adjusting the beam control information can refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, which will not be described in detail here.

[0069] In the embodiment of the application, the satellite payload can receive the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information sent by the base station, the beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, and then the effective time of the beam control information is determined according to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload, so that the effective time is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal. In this way, since the effective time of the beam control information determined by the satellite payload is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal, precise and efficient control of the satellite payload can be realized. In addition, since the base station does not need to send the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information synchronously, and new communication system, protocol or satellite-ground synchronization signal does not need to be introduced, precise and efficient control of the beam hopping can be realized, so the complexity is low, the implementation cost is small, and it can be widely used in multiple scenarios of beam hopping. After the satellite payload determines the effective time of the beam control information, since the time difference information can be determined according to the effective time, and the time difference information is sent to the base station, the base station adjusts the advance sending time of the beam control information according to the time difference information, so the optimal beam scheduling timeliness can be guaranteed.

[0070] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a beam hopping control method according to an embodiment of the application. The beam hopping control method shown in FIG. 3 can be applied to the base station 14 shown in FIG. 1, and can include the following steps.

[0071] S602: sending the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, the beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information is used for the satellite payload to perform beam hopping control, and the transparent forwarding signal is used for the satellite payload to determine the effective time of the beam control information according to the local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0072] In the NTN communication system, in the case that the satellite payload uses the beam hopping technology for communication, the base station can send a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, so that the satellite payload can control the beam hopping according to the beam control information, thereby realizing the forwarding of the transparent forwarding signal.

[0073] The transparent forwarding signal can be a general term of multiple signals transparently forwarded by the satellite payload between the terminal and the base station. In the embodiments of the present application, the transparent forwarding signal can include a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access and a transparent service signal for terminal service, etc., which are not limited here.

[0074] The beam control information is used for the satellite payload to control the beam hopping. The beam hopping controlled by the beam control information can be used for communication between the terminal and the satellite payload. In the embodiments of the present application, the beam control information can include beam pointing information and beam effective time slot. The beam pointing information can indicate which beam is pointed to, and the beam effective time slot can indicate which time slot the beam is effective.

[0075] The beam control information corresponds to the transparent forwarding signal, and the beam hopping controlled according to the beam control information can be used for the satellite payload to forward the transparent forwarding signal. In the embodiments of the present application, when the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, the base station can first send the beam control signal and then send the transparent forwarding signal, that is, the beam control information can be sent in advance. In other words, the base station can allocate beam resources in advance for the transparent forwarding signal in the future period of time, and send the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload in advance. The time when the base station sends the beam control information in advance (i.e., how long the base station can allocate the beam resources in advance) can be determined according to the actual situation, as long as the beam control information arrives at the satellite payload in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal. For example, the time when the base station sends the beam control information in advance can be greater than the maximum time that the time when the beam control information arrives at the satellite payload lags behind the time when the transparent forwarding signal arrives at the satellite payload.

[0076] The NTN communication system includes a gateway station, which can be used for forwarding information or signals between the base station and the satellite payload. In some embodiments, when the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload, the base station can send the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information through the gateway station, which can include: sending the transparent forwarding signal to the satellite payload through the transparent forwarding channel in the gateway station feeder link; and sending the beam control information to the satellite payload through the data transmission channel in the gateway station feeder link.

[0077] The implementation of the base station sending the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload through the gateway station can refer to FIG. 4. In the implementation, when the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal through the transparent forwarding channel in the feeder link of the gateway station, a general communication protocol such as NR can be used, and when the base station sends the beam control information through the data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station, a DVB or other common transmission protocol can be used. The transmission protocol used by the base station when sending the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information is not limited here.

[0078] Since the base station can send the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the satellite link through different data channels, and the beam control information can be sent in advance before the transparent forwarding signal is sent, that is, the base station does not need to send the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information synchronously, and a new communication system, protocol or satellite-ground synchronous signal does not need to be introduced, the complexity is low, the implementation cost is small, and the implementation can be widely used in multiple scenarios of the hopping beam.

[0079] The local frame header moment of the satellite payload is synchronized with the local frame header moment of the base station. The local frame header moment of the base station can be represented as the local frame start moment of the base station. In some embodiments, the local frame header moment of the base station can be determined by the base station through clock synchronization, which can include the following steps: receiving a first signal, the first signal including at least one of a GPS signal, a Beidou signal and a satellite positioning signal; calibrating the local clock of the base station according to the first signal to determine the local frame header moment of the base station.

[0080] After receiving the first signal, the base station can calibrate the local clock of the base station by using the first signal to obtain the local frame header moment of the base station. In some embodiments, the base station can receive the first signal at a certain period and periodically calibrate the local clock according to the first signal, so as to improve the accuracy of the local frame header moment of the base station.

[0081] In the embodiments of the present application, before the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information, the base station can first generate the beam control information corresponding to the transparent forwarding signal, and after generating the beam control information, the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload.

[0082] In some embodiments, in the case that the transparent forwarding signal includes a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access, the base station sending the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload can include: determining a broadcast beam of the transparent broadcast signal and a beam resource of a transceiving signal required by terminal access in a wave position polling scanning manner; generating beam control information according to the broadcast beam and the beam resource; and sending the transparent broadcast signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload.

[0083] In the case that the terminal does not access the base station, since the location information of the terminal is unknown to the base station, when the base station generates the beam control information, the base station can determine the broadcast beam of the transparent broadcast signal and the beam resource of the transceiving signal required by the terminal to access in a wave position polling scanning manner, that is, the base station allocates the beam resource in a wave position polling scanning manner. After the base station determines the broadcast beam of the transparent broadcast signal and the beam resource of the transceiving signal required by the terminal to access, the base station can generate the corresponding beam control information. Since the beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent broadcast signal, the base station determines the broadcast beam of the transparent broadcast signal and the beam resource of the transceiving signal required by the terminal to access, which can be to allocate the broadcast beam and the beam resource of the transceiving signal required by the terminal to access in advance, and after the broadcast beam and the beam resource of the transceiving signal required by the terminal to access are allocated in advance, the corresponding beam control information can be generated. The implementation manner of the base station generating the beam control information can refer to the implementation in the related art, which will not be described in detail here.

[0084] After the base station generates the beam control information corresponding to the transparent broadcast signal, the base station can send the transparent broadcast signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload. It should be noted that in the actual NTN scenario, the base station can periodically send the transparent broadcast signal. When the base station sends the transparent broadcast signal each time, the base station can generate the beam control information based on the above-mentioned method, and send the beam control information and the transparent broadcast signal to the satellite payload.

[0085] In some embodiments, in the case that the transparent forwarding signal includes a transparent service signal for terminal service, the base station sending the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload can include: determining a plurality of wave positions where a plurality of terminals accessed have located according to the location information of the plurality of terminals; allocating beam resources for the plurality of wave positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, generating beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result; and sending the transparent service signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload.

[0086] The transparent service signal is used for terminal service by the accessed terminal. The embodiments of the present application assume that the number of accessed terminals is multiple, and then when the base station generates the beam control information, the base station can first determine a plurality of wave positions where a plurality of terminals accessed have located according to the location information of the plurality of terminals. The location information of the plurality of terminals can be determined by the base station in various ways. For example, the terminal can actively report its own location information to the base station when accessing the base station, or can send positioning information and a sounding signal (such as a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)) to the base station, and the base station determines the location information of the terminal according to the positioning signal and the sounding signal, etc. The way in which the base station determines the location information of the terminal is not limited here.

[0087] After determining the beam positions of the plurality of terminals, the base station can allocate beam resources to the plurality of beam positions (equivalent to allocating beam resources to the plurality of terminals) according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals. The service type characteristics of the terminals may, for example, be whether the service of the terminal is a voice service or other service, etc., and can be determined according to the actual service scenario, which is not limited here. After allocating the beam resources to the plurality of beam positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, the base station can generate corresponding beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result. Since the beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent service signal, the base station can allocate the beam resources to the plurality of beam positions in advance, and can generate the beam control information according to the advance allocation of the beam resources. The implementation of the base station generating the beam control information can refer to the implementation in the related art, which will not be described in detail here.

[0088] In some embodiments, the base station can allocate beam resources to the plurality of beam positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, and generate beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result, which can include: determining a beam resource allocation period; allocating a first weight to the plurality of beam positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, the beam resource allocation period, the number of beam resources to be allocated, and the number of the plurality of beam positions, the first weight representing the number of times each beam position is allocated to a beam resource; and generating the beam control information according to the first weight.

[0089] The beam resource allocation period can be how long the base station allocates the beam resources every time, that is, how long the base station can allocate the beam resources in advance. For example, if the beam resource allocation period is N time slots, the base station can allocate the beam resources in advance for N time slots, and each time the base station allocates the beam resources in N time slots. The size of N can be determined according to the actual service demand, which is not limited here. In some embodiments, N can be slightly greater than or equal to the advance sending time of the base station to the beam control information.

[0090] After determining the beam resource allocation period, the first weight can be allocated to each beam position in combination with the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, the number of beam resources to be allocated, and the number of the plurality of beam positions. The first weight can represent the number of times each beam position is allocated to a beam resource. For example, assuming that there are L beam resources in total, the beam resource allocation period is N time slots, and the number of beam positions is M, if the plurality of beam positions are determined to be allocated with equal weights according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, the first weight allocated to each beam position can be represented by the following formula:

[0091] w i represents the number of times each beam position is allocated to a beam resource in N time slots

[0092] After determining the first weight allocated to each beam position, the base station can generate beam control information according to the first weight. After generating the beam control information, the base station can send the transparent service signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload. In the service scheduling process of the terminal, the satellite payload can refer to the beam resource allocation result, and perform information interaction with the terminal of the beam position to which the beam resource is allocated.

[0093] It should be noted that in actual application, the service condition of the terminal is dynamically changed, and when the base station allocates beam resources to multiple beam positions, the beam resources allocated in the last beam resource allocation period may not be suitable for the demand of the terminal for beam resources in the next beam resource allocation period, thereby reducing the utilization rate of the beam resources. In order to improve the utilization rate of the beam resources, an adaptive beam hopping strategy is proposed in the embodiments of the present application, which can adjust the beam resources allocated in the next beam resource allocation period according to the actual service condition of the terminal in the current beam resource allocation period, so as to meet the demand of the terminal for beam resources and improve the utilization rate of the beam resources. In an example, after the base station sends the transparent service signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload, the satellite payload performs beam hopping control according to the beam control information and service scheduling according to the transparent service signal, and can perform the following operations: determining the actual service information of the multiple terminals in the beam resource allocation period; adjusting the first weight according to the actual service information to obtain a second weight; and generating beam control information of the next beam resource allocation period according to the second weight.

[0094] The actual service information of the multiple terminals in the beam resource allocation period can represent the actual service condition of the multiple terminals in the beam resource allocation period, and can include which time slot each terminal has service scheduling demand, which time slot each terminal has no service scheduling demand, which time slot each terminal has beam resource allocation, which time slot each terminal has no beam resource allocation, and the like. The actual service information of the multiple terminals in the beam resource allocation period can be determined by the base station in the process of service interaction between the multiple terminals and the base station through the satellite payload.

[0095] After determining the actual service information of the multiple terminals in the beam resource allocation period, the base station can adjust the first weight according to the actual service information to obtain a second weight. The second weight can represent the number of times each terminal is reallocated to the beam resource, and the number of times each terminal is reallocated to the beam resource matches the actual service information of the terminal. The second weight of different terminals can be different.

[0096] In some embodiments, the base station adjusts the first weight according to actual traffic information of the plurality of terminals in the resource allocation period to obtain a second weight, which can include: determining, according to the actual traffic information, a first number of time slots in which each terminal has a traffic scheduling requirement but is not allocated beam resources and a second number of time slots in which beam resources are allocated but there is no traffic scheduling requirement; and adjusting the first weight according to the first number of time slots and the second number of time slots to obtain the second weight.

[0097] For example, in the current beam resource allocation period, for a certain terminal, the number of time slots in which there is a traffic scheduling requirement but no beam resources is n1 (i.e., the first number of time slots described above), and the number of time slots in which beam resources are allocated but there is no traffic scheduling requirement is n2 (i.e., the second number of time slots described above), then the second weight of the terminal is: i w′ = w i + n1-n2.

[0098] Thus, the first weight of each terminal can be adjusted to obtain the second weight.

[0099] In some embodiments, after obtaining the second weight of each terminal, the second weights of the plurality of terminals can be normalized, and the normalized result is determined as the final second weight. The normalized second weight can be expressed as the following formula:

[0100] After obtaining the second weights of the plurality of terminals, the base station can generate beam control information for the next beam resource allocation period according to the second weights.

[0101] In this way, since the base station can dynamically adjust the beam resources allocated to each terminal in the next beam resource allocation period according to the actual traffic information of the terminals in the current beam resource allocation period, the beam resources allocated in the next beam resource allocation period can meet the traffic requirements of the terminals, thereby improving the utilization rate of beam resources.

[0102] In the embodiments of the present application, since the beam control information is sent in advance by the base station through transparent forwarding signals, that is, the base station allocates beam resources in advance, the timeliness of beam scheduling is affected. In some embodiments, in order to improve the timeliness of beam scheduling, the base station can adjust the sending time of the beam control information in advance to ensure the optimal timeliness of beam scheduling. In an example, after determining the effective time of the beam control information, the satellite payload can determine time difference information according to the effective time, and then send the time difference information to the base station. After receiving the time difference information, the base station can adjust the sending time of the beam control information in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signals according to the time difference information, thereby ensuring the optimal timeliness of beam scheduling. In an example, after sending the transparent forwarding signals and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, the base station can perform the following operations: receiving the time difference information sent by the satellite payload, the time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to the effective time of the beam control information; and adjusting the sending time of the beam control information in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signals according to the time difference information.

[0103] The implementation of the satellite payload determining the time difference information can refer to the implementation of the corresponding steps in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, which will not be described in detail here. After determining the time difference information, the satellite payload can send the time difference information to the base station, and at this time the base station can receive the time difference information sent by the satellite payload. When sending the time difference information to the base station, the satellite payload can send it through the data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station, and correspondingly, when receiving the time difference information, the base station can receive it through the data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station.

[0104] After receiving the time difference information, the base station can adjust the sending time of the beam control information in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signals according to the time difference information, thereby improving the timeliness of beam scheduling.

[0105] In some embodiments, the time difference information sent by the satellite payload can include at least one of first time difference information and second time difference information, the first time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to the first effective time of the latest received uplink beam control information and the uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, and the second time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to the second effective time of the latest received downlink beam control information and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload. In this way, when the base station adjusts the sending time of the beam control information in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signals according to the time difference information, it can include at least one of the following: adjusting the sending time of the uplink beam control information in advance compared with the uplink transparent forwarding signals according to the first time difference information; and adjusting the sending time of the downlink beam control information in advance compared with the downlink transparent forwarding signals according to the second time difference information.

[0106] The beam control information can include uplink beam control information and downlink beam control information, and the transparent forwarding signal can include uplink transparent forwarding signal and downlink transparent forwarding signal. The transparent forwarding signal herein can be a transparent service signal. When the base station adjusts the advance sending time of the beam control information, the advance sending time of the uplink beam control information relative to the uplink transparent service signal can be adjusted according to the first time difference information to ensure the timeliness of uplink beam scheduling, or the advance sending time of the downlink beam control information relative to the downlink transparent service signal can be adjusted according to the second time difference information to ensure the timeliness of downlink beam scheduling, or the advance sending time of the uplink beam control information relative to the uplink transparent service signal and the advance sending time of the downlink beam control information relative to the downlink transparent service signal can be adjusted according to the first time difference information and the second time difference information respectively to ensure the timeliness of uplink and downlink beam scheduling. When the advance sending time is adjusted according to the time difference information, the difference between the advance sending time and the time difference can be taken as the latest advance sending time. For example, the base station sends the beam control information N time slots in advance, and the time difference information is dt time slots. After adjustment, the base station can send the beam control information N-dt time slots in advance.

[0107] In the embodiments of the present application, the base station can send the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload. The beam control information is sent in advance relative to the transparent forwarding signal. The beam control information is used for the satellite payload to start the beam hopping, and the transparent forwarding signal is used for the satellite payload to determine the effective time of the beam control information in combination with the local frame header time, so that the effective time is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal. In this way, since the effective time of the beam control information determined by the satellite payload is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal, precise and efficient control of the satellite payload beam hopping can be achieved. In addition, since the base station does not need to send the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information synchronously, and does not need to introduce new communication system, protocol or satellite-ground synchronization signal, precise and efficient control of the beam hopping can be achieved, so the complexity is low, the implementation cost is small, and the method can be widely used in multiple scenarios of beam hopping. After the base station sends the transparent forwarding signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload, the advance sending time of the beam control information can be adjusted according to the time difference information returned by the satellite payload, so that the optimal beam scheduling timeliness can be ensured.

[0108] In order to facilitate understanding of the beam hopping control method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the following will be described by way of example. The method can include the following steps.

[0109] S1: Before the communication service starts, such as after the equipment is powered on, the base station and the satellite payload receive the positioning signals of GPS, Beidou or other satellites, and synchronize the local clocks according to the signals, and respectively and accurately maintain their own local frame header time T0 (i.e. local frame start time T0).

[0110] S2: The base station adopts a polling scanning mechanism to allocate the broadcast beam and the beam resource of the transceiving signal required by user access in the future N time slots, and generates the broadcast beam control information based on this, and sends it to the satellite through the feeder link of the gateway station. The beam control module on the satellite payload receives and demodulates the beam control information, and extracts it for storage in the beam control module. The beam control information contains the pointing information and the effective time slot of all beams in the future N time slots. The beam control information can be transmitted using the DVB protocol or other commonly used transmission protocols. The initial value of N can be set to be relatively large, and has no effect on the subsequent process and the final performance. For example, the initial value of N can be set to 10 ms (10-20 time slots), to ensure that the beam control information is extracted before the service transparent signal arrives.

[0111] S3: The base station periodically sends transparent broadcast signals, which arrive at the satellite payload through the feeder link, and are then sent through the user link antenna. The beam control module on the satellite payload searches for the transparent broadcast signal, acquires the frame header time T1 of the transparent broadcast signal, determines T1 as the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload, and periodically calibrates the T1 time according to the transmission period of the transparent broadcast signal. The transparent broadcast signal can be a broadcast signal in the NR communication protocol. After determining the downlink frame header time T1, the satellite payload can use T1 and the local frame header time T0 to determine T2, and maintain T2 as the uplink frame header time, where T2 = 2 x T0 - T1. Please refer to FIG. 5.

[0112] S4: The beam control module on the satellite payload aligns the T1 and T2 times respectively, and controls the beam direction of the transparent broadcast signal and the transceiving signal related to user access according to the effective time slot and the beam pointing information of each beam in the beam control information. The terminal user can complete user access by initiating normal random access after searching for the transparent broadcast signal.

[0113] S5: The beam control module on the satellite payload records the frame number time slot number corresponding to the latest received downlink beam control information, denoted as the effective time T4 of the beam control information, and calculates the difference dt from T1, and then sends the time difference information to the base station through the feeder link through the gateway station. After receiving and extracting, the base station adjusts the advance amount N of beam allocation in real time according to dt, so as to ensure the timeliness of optimal beam allocation.

[0114] S6: The base station receives the positioning information or the sounding signal (such as SRS signal) reported by the terminal, determines the wave position to which the terminal belongs. For all user wave positions, the weight is adjusted according to the traffic demand of the user, and the frequency of the beam resource pointing to each wave position is adjusted according to the real-time adjusted weight, and the beam pointing in the future at least N time slots is planned in advance. In the service scheduling process of the user terminal, reference is made to the beam resource allocation result, and information interaction is only carried out with the user when the beam resource is allocated to the wave position. When the beam resource allocated to a user cannot meet the traffic demand, the ground base station will increase the allocation priority of the corresponding wave position in real time, increase the allocation weight of the wave position, and vice versa.

[0115] In an example, the base station estimates and maintains the wave position of the user terminal in real time by receiving the positioning information or the sounding signal reported by the user terminal, forms a user wave position candidate set, and the user wave position candidate set includes the wave position of the terminal service demand, which is an initial wave position set.

[0116] According to the traffic type characteristics (such as voice or other services, etc.) of each terminal, the initial weights w0, w1, …, wM are allocated to all M user wave positions. M-1 The meaning is the number of times each user wave position is allocated to the beam resource in the next allocation period. Assuming that there are L beam resources in total, the allocation period is T time slots (T is greater than or equal to the beam control information sending time N in advance), if the initial weight is allocated by the equal allocation method, then the number of times each user is allocated to the beam resource in the next period is In the service scheduling process of the user terminal, reference is made to the beam resource allocation result, and information interaction is only carried out with the user when the beam resource is allocated to the wave position.

[0117] The user wave position weight w needs to be adjusted in real time in the service process. Taking T time slots as the allocation period, record the number of time slots n1 of each user with service scheduling demand but without beam resource allocation in the current allocation period, and the number of time slots n2 with beam resource allocation but without service scheduling, then the pre-allocation value w' of each user in the next allocation period can be calculated i = w i + n1-n2, and then normalize all user pre-allocation values to obtain the actual weight of the next allocation period

[0118] The beam hopping control method provided in the embodiments of the present application, when applied to a satellite transparent forwarding scenario, does not need to introduce a new communication system, protocol or satellite-ground synchronous signal, does not require beam control information to be synchronously transmitted with the transparent signal, and can accurately calculate the effective time of the beam. Moreover, by adaptively adjusting the advance amount of the beam scheduling relative to the service scheduling, optimal beam scheduling timeliness is ensured, and the cost is small. At the same time, the beam utilization rate is improved by an adaptive beam resource allocation scheme, and efficient and accurate beam control is achieved.

[0119] It should be noted that the beam hopping control method provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to a regenerative mode satellite communication scenario, thereby reducing the complexity of the satellite payload baseband. At this time, the beam pointing of the regenerative mode satellite is controlled by the ground gateway station, and is transmitted to the satellite payload through the feeder link. The satellite payload baseband does not need to implement the content of beam hopping, but performs beam control of the user link according to the beam control information of the ground gateway station, and adjusts the service scheduling according to the content in the beam control information.

[0120] The above describes specific embodiments of the present application. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims can be performed in an order other than that described in the embodiments and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown or sequential order to achieve the desired results. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous or possible.

[0121] FIG. 7 is a structural schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to FIG. 7, at the hardware level, the electronic device includes a processor, and further includes an internal bus, a network interface, and a memory. The memory can include a memory such as a random-access memory (RAM), and can further include a non-volatile memory such as at least one disk memory. Of course, the electronic device can also include other hardware required by services.

[0122] The processor, the network interface and the memory can be connected with each other through an internal bus, which can be an ISA (Industry Standard Architecture) bus, a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus or an EISA (Extended Industry Standard Architecture) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For the convenience of representation, only one bidirectional arrow is used in FIG. 7, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0123] The memory is used for storing programs. The programs can include program codes including computer operation instructions. The memory can include an internal memory and a non-volatile memory, and provide instructions and data for the processor.

[0124] The processor reads the corresponding computer program from the non-volatile memory into the internal memory and then runs, and forms a beam hopping control device at a logical level. The processor executes the programs stored in the memory, and is used for the following operations: receiving a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information sent by a base station, the beam control information being sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used for beam hopping control of the satellite payload; determining an effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0125] Or used for the following operations: sending a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to a satellite payload; wherein the beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used for beam hopping control of the satellite payload, and the transparent forwarding signal being used for the satellite payload to determine an effective time of the beam control information according to a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0126] The method performed by the skip beam control device disclosed in the embodiment shown in Fig. 7 of the present application can be applied in a processor or implemented by the processor. The processor can be an integrated circuit chip with processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by integrated logic circuits or instructions in the form of software in the processor. The processor can be a general processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), etc.; or a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component. Each method, step and logic block diagram disclosed in the present application can be implemented or executed. The general processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the present application can be directly embodied as a hardware code processor for execution, or a combination of hardware and software modules in the code processor for execution. The software module can be located in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register or other mature storage medium in the art. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and combines the hardware to complete the steps of the above method.

[0127] The electronic device can also perform the method of Fig. 3 and Fig. 6, and realize the functions of the skip beam control device in the embodiments shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 6, which will not be repeated here.

[0128] Of course, in addition to the software implementation, the electronic device of the present application does not exclude other implementation methods, such as logic devices or a combination of software and hardware, etc. That is, the execution subject of the following processing flow is not limited to each logic unit, but can also be hardware or logic device.

[0129] The application also provides a computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs including instructions which, when executed by a portable electronic device including a plurality of applications, enable the portable electronic device to perform the method of the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6, and to perform the following operations: receiving a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information transmitted by a base station, the beam control information being transmitted in advance of the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used for the satellite payload to perform hop beam control; determining an effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0130] or for performing the following operations: transmitting a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to a satellite payload; wherein the beam control information is transmitted in advance of the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used for the satellite payload to perform hop beam control, and the transparent forwarding signal being used for the satellite payload to determine an effective time of the beam control information according to a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0131] FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a hop beam control device 80 according to an embodiment of the application. Referring to FIG. 8, in a software implementation, the hop beam control device 80 can include a receiving module 81 and a determining module 82, wherein: the receiving module 81 receives a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information transmitted by a base station, the beam control information being transmitted in advance of the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used for the satellite payload to perform hop beam control; and the determining module 82 determines an effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0132] In some embodiments, the transparent forwarding signal includes a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access; and the determining module 82 determines the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload, including: determining an uplink frame header time and a downlink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload; and determining the effective time of the beam control information according to the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time.

[0133] In some embodiments, the determining module 82 determines the uplink frame head time and the downlink frame head time of the satellite payload according to the local frame head time and the satellite payload frame head time of the transparent broadcast signal, including: determining the frame head time of the transparent broadcast signal as the downlink frame head time of the satellite payload; determining the uplink frame head time according to the local frame head time and the downlink frame head time.

[0134] In some embodiments, the determining module 82 determines the uplink frame head time according to the local frame head time and the downlink frame head time, including: determining a first time according to the local frame head time, the first time being equal to 2 times the local frame head time; determining the uplink frame head time according to the first time and the downlink frame head time, the uplink frame head time being equal to the difference between the first time and the downlink frame head time.

[0135] In some embodiments, the transparent forwarding signal includes an uplink transparent forwarding signal and a downlink transparent forwarding signal, and the beam control information includes uplink beam control information and downlink beam control information; the determining module 82 determines the effective time of the beam control information according to the uplink frame head time and the downlink frame head time, including: determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink frame head time, the effective time of the uplink beam control information being synchronized with the uplink transparent forwarding signal; determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink frame head time, the effective time of the downlink beam control information being synchronized with the downlink transparent forwarding signal.

[0136] In some embodiments, the uplink beam control information includes an uplink beam effective time slot; the determining module 82 determines the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink frame head time, including: determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink beam effective time slot based on the uplink frame head time.

[0137] In some embodiments, the downlink beam control information includes a downlink beam effective time slot; the determining module 82 determines the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink frame head time, including: determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink beam effective time slot based on the downlink frame head time.

[0138] In some embodiments, the receiving module 81 further receives a first signal, the first signal including at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) signal, a Beidou signal, and a satellite positioning signal; the determining module 82 further calibrates the local clock of the satellite payload according to the first signal to determine the local frame head time of the satellite payload.

[0139] In some embodiments, the receiving module 81 receives the transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information sent by the base station, including: receiving the transparent forwarding signal sent by the base station through a transparent forwarding channel in a feeder link of a gateway station; and receiving the beam control information sent by the base station through a data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station.

[0140] In some embodiments, the apparatus 80 further includes a sending module; the determining module 82 further determines time difference information according to the effective time of the beam control information; and the sending module sends the time difference information to the base station, which is used by the base station to adjust the advanced sending time of the beam control information compared with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0141] In some embodiments, the determining module 82 determines the time difference information according to the effective time of the beam control information, including at least one of the following: determining a first effective time of the latest received uplink beam control information; determining first time difference information according to the first effective time and an uplink frame header time of the satellite payload; determining a second effective time of the latest received downlink beam control information; and determining second time difference information according to the second effective time and a downlink frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0142] In some embodiments, the sending module sends the time difference information to the base station, including: sending at least one of the first time difference information and the second time difference information to the base station.

[0143] The apparatus 80 for controlling the beam hopping provided in the present application can also perform the method of FIG. 3 and realize the functions of the apparatus 80 for controlling the beam hopping in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, which will not be described herein again.

[0144] FIG. 9 is a structural schematic diagram of an apparatus 90 for controlling the beam hopping according to an embodiment of the present application. Please refer to FIG. 9. In a software embodiment, the apparatus 90 for controlling the beam hopping can include a sending module 91, in which: the sending module 91 sends a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to a satellite payload; the beam control information is sent in advance compared with the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information is used by the satellite payload to control the beam hopping, the transparent forwarding signal is used by the satellite payload to determine an effective time of the beam control information according to a local frame header time of the satellite payload, and the effective time of the beam control information is synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal.

[0145] In some embodiments, the transparent forwarding signal comprises a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access; the sending module 91 sends the transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, comprising: determining the broadcast beam of the transparent broadcast signal and the beam resource required for the terminal access in a transponder polling scanning manner; generating beam control information according to the broadcast beam and the beam resource; and sending the transparent broadcast signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload.

[0146] In some embodiments, the transparent forwarding signal comprises a transparent service signal; the sending module 91 sends the transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, comprising: determining a plurality of wave positions where a plurality of terminals are located according to the position information of the plurality of terminals; allocating beam resources to the plurality of wave positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, and generating beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result; and sending the transparent service signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload.

[0147] In some embodiments, the sending module 91 allocates beam resources to the plurality of wave positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, and generates beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result, comprising: determining a beam resource allocation period; allocating a first weight to the plurality of wave positions according to the service type characteristics of the plurality of terminals, the beam resource allocation period, the number of beam resources to be allocated, and the number of the plurality of wave positions, wherein the first weight represents the number of times each wave position is allocated to a beam resource;

[0148] Generating beam control information according to the first weight.

[0149] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a beam resource allocation module; the beam resource allocation module determines actual service information of the plurality of terminals within the beam resource allocation period; adjusts the first weight according to the actual service information to obtain a second weight; and generates beam control information for the next beam resource allocation period according to the second weight.

[0150] In some embodiments, the beam resource allocation module adjusts the first weight according to the actual service information to obtain a second weight, comprising: determining the number of first time slots in which each terminal has service scheduling needs but has not been allocated a beam resource, and the number of second time slots in which a beam resource is allocated but has no service scheduling needs according to the actual service information; and adjusting the first weight according to the number of first time slots and the number of second time slots to obtain the second weight.

[0151] In some embodiments, the sending module 91 sends the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload, including: sending the transparent forwarding signal to the satellite payload through a transparent forwarding channel in a feeder link of a gateway; and sending the beam control information to the satellite payload through a data channel in the feeder link of the gateway.

[0152] In some embodiments, the apparatus further includes a receiving module and a determining module; the receiving module receives a first signal, the first signal including at least one of a GPS signal, a Beidou signal and a satellite positioning signal; and the determining module calibrates a local clock of the base station according to the first signal, and determines a local frame header time of the base station, the local frame header time of the base station being synchronized with a local frame header time of the satellite payload.

[0153] In some embodiments, the receiving module further receives time difference information sent by the satellite payload, the time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to an effective time of the beam control information; and the sending module 91 further adjusts an advanced sending time of the beam control information relative to the transparent forwarding signal according to the time difference information.

[0154] In some embodiments, the time difference information includes at least one of first time difference information and second time difference information, the first time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to a first effective time of the latest received uplink beam control information and an uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, and the second time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to a second effective time of the latest received downlink beam control information and a downlink frame header time of the satellite payload; and the sending module 91 adjusts the advanced sending time of the beam control information relative to the transparent forwarding signal according to the time difference information, including at least one of: adjusting the advanced sending time of the uplink beam control information relative to the uplink transparent forwarding signal according to the first time difference information; and adjusting the advanced sending time of the downlink beam control information relative to the downlink transparent forwarding signal according to the second time difference information.

[0155] The beam hopping control apparatus 90 provided in the present application can also perform the method of FIG. 6, and realize the functions of the beam hopping control apparatus 90 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, which will not be repeated here.

[0156] The present application further provides a computer program product, including a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program being operable to cause a computer to execute some or all of the steps in the above-described beam hopping control method embodiments.

[0157] In conclusion, the above merely describes preferred embodiments of the present application, but should not be used to limit the protection scope of the present application. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

[0158] The systems, apparatuses, modules or units illustrated by the above embodiments can be implemented by computer chips or entities, or by products with certain functions. A typical implementation device is a computer. The computer may, for example, be a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, a camera phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a navigation device, an email device, a game console, a tablet computer, a wearable device, or a combination of any of these devices.

[0159] The computer readable medium includes permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media, which can be implemented by any method or technology to store information. The information can be computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase change memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassette, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transmission medium that can be used to store information accessible by a computing device. According to the definition herein, computer readable medium does not include transitory media such as modulated data signals and carriers.

[0160] It should also be noted that the terms "comprising", "including", or any other variant thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that processes, methods, articles or devices including a series of elements not only include those elements, but also include other elements not explicitly listed or inherent to such processes, methods, articles or devices. Without more limitations, the element defined by the statement "including a" does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0161] The various embodiments in the present application are described in a progressive manner, and the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other. Each embodiment focuses on the difference from other embodiments. In particular, for system embodiments, since they are basically similar to method embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the part of the method embodiment.

Claims

1.A method for controlling a satellite payload, comprising: receiving a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information from a base station, the beam control information being sent in advance of the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information being used by the satellite payload to perform beam hopping control; and determining an effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the transparent forwarding signal comprises a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access, and the determining the effective time of the beam control information according to the transparent forwarding signal and the local frame header time of the satellite payload comprises: determining an uplink frame header time and a downlink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time; and determining the effective time of the beam control information according to the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time. 3.The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload according to the transparent broadcast signal and the local frame header time comprises: determining a frame header time of the transparent broadcast signal as the downlink frame header time of the satellite payload; and determining the uplink frame header time according to the local frame header time and the downlink frame header time. 4.The method of claim 3, wherein the determining the uplink frame header time according to the local frame header time and the downlink frame header time comprises: determining a first time according to the local frame header time, the first time being equal to 2 times the local frame header time; and determining the uplink frame header time according to the first time and the downlink frame header time, the uplink frame header time being equal to a difference between the first time and the downlink frame header time. The determining the effective time of the beam control information according to the uplink frame header time and the downlink frame header time comprises: determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink frame header time, the effective time of the uplink beam control information being synchronized with the uplink transparent forwarding signal; and determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink frame header time, the effective time of the downlink beam control information being synchronized with the downlink transparent forwarding signal. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the uplink beam control information comprises an uplink beam effective time slot, and the determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink frame header time comprises: determining the effective time of the uplink beam control information according to the uplink beam effective time slot based on the uplink frame header time. 7.The method of claim 5, wherein the downlink beam control information comprises a downlink beam effective time slot, and the determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink frame header time comprises: determining the effective time of the downlink beam control information according to the downlink beam effective time slot based on the downlink frame header time. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 5.The method of claim 2, wherein the transparent forwarding signals comprise uplink transparent forwarding signals and downlink transparent forwarding signals, and the beam control information comprises uplink beam control information and downlink beam control information. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 8.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a first signal, the first signal comprising at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) signal, a Beidou signal, and a satellite positioning signal; calibrating a local clock of the satellite payload according to the first signal to determine a local frame header time of the satellite payload. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information transmitted by the base station comprises: receiving the transparent forwarding signal transmitted by the base station through a transparent forwarding channel in a feeder link of a gateway station; receiving the beam control information transmitted by the base station through a data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station. 10.The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising: determining time difference information according to an effective time of the beam control information; and sending the time difference information to the base station, the time difference information being used by the base station to adjust an advanced sending time of the beam control information relative to the transparent forwarding signal. 11.The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the time difference information according to the effective time of the beam control information comprises at least one of: determining a first effective time of the latest received uplink beam control information; and determining first time difference information according to the first effective time and an uplink frame header time of the satellite payload; determining a second effective time of the latest received downlink beam control information; and determining second time difference information according to the second effective time and a downlink frame header time of the satellite payload. 12.A method for beam hopping control, applied to a base station, comprising: sending a transparent forwarding signal and corresponding beam control information to a satellite payload; wherein the beam control information is sent in advance relative to the transparent forwarding signal, the beam control information is used by the satellite payload for beam hopping control, and the transparent forwarding signal is used by the satellite payload to determine an effective time of the beam control information according to a local frame header time of the satellite payload, the effective time of the beam control information being synchronized with the transparent forwarding signal. 13.The method of claim 12, wherein the transparent forwarding signal comprises a transparent broadcast signal for terminal access; and the sending the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload comprises: determining a broadcast beam of the transparent broadcast signal and beam resources of a transceiving signal required by the terminal access in a wave position polling scanning manner; generating beam control information according to the broadcast beam and the beam resources; and sending the transparent broadcast signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload. 14.The method of claim 12, wherein the transparent forwarding signal comprises a transparent service signal; and the sending the transparent forwarding signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload comprises: determining a plurality of wave positions where a plurality of terminals are located according to position information of the plurality of terminals. ​ ​ ​ allocating beam resources to the multiple beam positions according to the service type characteristics of the multiple terminals, and generating beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result; sending the transparent service signal and the beam control information to the satellite payload. 15.The method of claim 14, wherein the allocating beam resources to the multiple beam positions according to the service type characteristics of the multiple terminals, and generating beam control information according to the beam resource allocation result comprises: determining a beam resource allocation period; allocating a first weight to the multiple beam positions according to the service type characteristics of the multiple terminals, the beam resource allocation period, a number of beam resources to be allocated, and a number of the multiple beam positions, the first weight representing a number of times each beam position is allocated to a beam resource; generating the beam control information according to the first weight. 16.The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining actual service information of the multiple terminals in the beam resource allocation period; adjusting the first weight according to the actual service information to obtain a second weight; generating beam control information for a next beam resource allocation period according to the second weight. 17.The method of claim 16, wherein the adjusting the first weight according to the actual service information to obtain a second weight comprises: determining a first number of time slots in which each terminal has a service scheduling requirement but is not allocated a beam resource, and a second number of time slots in which a beam resource is allocated but there is no service scheduling requirement, according to the actual service information; adjusting the first weight according to the first number of time slots and the second number of time slots to obtain the second weight. 18.The method of claim 12, wherein the sending the transparent service signal and the corresponding beam control information to the satellite payload comprises: sending the transparent service signal to the satellite payload through a transparent forwarding channel in a feeder link of a gateway station; and sending the beam control information to the satellite payload through a data transmission channel in the feeder link of the gateway station. 19.The method of claim 12, further comprising: receiving a first signal, the first signal comprising at least one of a GPS signal, a Beidou signal, and a satellite positioning signal; calibrating a local clock of the base station according to the first signal to determine a local frame header time of the base station, the local frame header time of the base station being synchronized with a local frame header time of the satellite payload. 20.The method of any one of claims 12 to 19, further comprising: receiving time difference information sent by the satellite payload, the time difference information being determined by the satellite payload according to a validity time of the beam control information; and adjusting an advanced sending time of the beam control information relative to the transparent service signal according to the time difference information. 21.The method of claim 20, wherein the time difference information comprises at least one of first time difference information and second time difference information, the first time difference information is determined by the satellite payload according to a first effective time of the latest received uplink beam control information and an uplink frame header time of the satellite payload, and the second time difference information is determined by the satellite payload according to a second effective time of the latest received downlink beam control information and a downlink frame header time of the satellite payload; and the adjusting the beam control information according to the time difference information comprises at least one of: adjusting the uplink beam control information according to the first time difference information, and adjusting the downlink beam control information according to the second time difference information. 22.An electronic device comprising: a processor; a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 21. 23.A computer readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by a processor of an electronic device enable the electronic device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 21. 24.A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a computer program operable to cause a computer to perform some or all of the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 21. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

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